This invention relates to a method and apparatus for the manufacture of concrete and like products, particularly, terrazzo and other panels, concrete and cinder block, and substantially all other conventional building products and the like.
The term "concrete", as it is employed in this specification, refers to a stone-like product obtained by blending a cement, aggregate such as sand, gravel, crushed stone, and many other like additives, and water together in appropriate amounts, and allowing the mixture to harden and reach an advanced state of cure. "Concrete-like" is extremely broader, and encompasses the materials having certain physical properties of concrete products, having perhaps substitutes for the cement normally used in concrete and perhaps substitutes for aggregate normally so used. They may be load-bearing or non load-bearing and may if desired include binders and/or aggregates that are selected to impart desired structural characteristics and/or decorative characteristics to the final product. The term "terrazzo-like", as used in this specification refers to a special form of concrete in which the aggregate used is selected so as to impart a decorative effect to the final product when exposed by grinding and polishing. The aggregate used in "terrazzo-like" panels can include, for example, marble dust, marble chips, granite chips, colored stones of various types, broken glass, brick and stone particles and the like, and various other aggregates. The term " terrazzo" itself is used, in this application, in a somewhat narrower sense, with reference to an aggregate having marble of the dust or chip type therein. In the parent application, Ser. No. 106,364, the term "terrazzo" was used in a broad sense, to have substantially the same meaning as does "terrazzo-like" in this application.